Experimental validation of methanol synthesis from steel mill gases using a miniplant setup

Utilization of the gas streams generated by the iron- and steel-making industry for the synthesis of synthetic fuels or chemicals is a promising way to kickstart a technical carbon cycle. Methanol synthesis from cleaned blast furnace gas is a challenge for process design and operation due to high inert gas contents and fluctuations in the gas supply. In this work, a miniplant setup with an adiabatic quench bed reactor was operated with cleaned blast furnace gas over a wide range of process conditions. The experimental data obtained were used to validate a simulation model of the miniplant setup with the perspective for an optimization of the process operational parameters. A high agreement between experimental and simulation data could be obtained, validating the applicability of the simulation approach presented in this work.